★★★★★ 1
Great looking color scheme, but the same flaws as the other color variants of this model.
This review is for the 43mm white dial variant with blue ceramic bezel. Everything is built exactly the same as the black and blue variants other than the colors. I’ve already reviewed the black variant separately but updated the review for this white dial version.
Like probably 99% of watch enthusiasts, most of my watches have black or blue dials. Those are the most common/popular dial colors for a reason, they look good and they’re the most versatile. But because I already have so many of those, I find myself always on the lookout for a good looking white dial to add to the collection for a little variety.
And even more than just a white dial, I really love a red, white, and blue color scheme. I’m a patriot, proud to have served, and to rep our country’s colors anytime I can. It makes it even better that this watch is made by Hamilton, a brand with a rich US military history that has retained its American name, even if it’s no longer an American company and is now Swiss made and headquartered.
But out of all the different watches I’ve bought over the years, Hamilton has been the most frustrating. While it has made great strides in the last few years improving a lot of the things watch enthusiasts care about, such as higher end materials, improved designs, much better lume - there seems to always be at least one cheaply made part that disappoints.
Pros:
Great looking watch overall, it’s already hard enough to find a good looking white dial watch, let alone one with a red, white, and blue color scheme.
300m water resist (screw down caseback and crown).
Accurate and reliable automatic movement.
80 hr power reserve with antimagnetic Nivachron hairspring.
Thin for such a large and heavy watch with 300m water resist.
Very good lume.
Bracelet uses pins and collars for sizing, which is much more durable than cotter pins or screws. I never worry about a pin and collar system coming loose on a bracelet. A lot of bracelets on watches in this price tier, and some even higher (I’m talking to you, Mido and Longines!!!) are held together with cheap cotter/split pins.
Cons:
No date. The only people who prefer no date are watch collectors, and this is not a collector’s watch. For people who actually wear their watches daily, having the date or day/date is always preferable.
Bracelet is old fashioned and needs to be modernized. No quick release spring bars, and no on the fly adjusting clasp.
Pins and collars can be a little harder for some people to size, although I have no problems sizing and actually prefer them.
Powermatic 80 based movement can be more difficult for traditional watchmakers to service/regulate.
On the heavier side, but I’m used to even heavier watches, so it doesn’t bother me.
EXTREMELY CHEAPLY MADE LITTLE LUME PIP ON THE BEZEL THAT BREAKS OFF EASILY!!!
My measurements:
Weight, head only: 99g.
Weight, full bracelet: 116g.
Weight total: 215g.
43.8mm case diameter. 47.1mm including crown.
43.0mm at bezel.
33mm approximate dial diameter without bezel.
22.0mm lug width. Bracelet tapers to 20mm at the clasp.
52.0mm lug to lug.
12.8mm thick.
7.5mm diameter crown.
My wrist is 7.375” and 60mm across for reference in the pics.
I’ve had the watch for a few years now. The look/styling of the watch is great. It has some classic Hamilton military looks due to the 24 hour Arabic numerals, the kind of matte, textured white dial (more on that in a bit), and mostly brushed finishing on the case and bracelet, while retaining some polished bits for styling versatility. But this white version is definitely not as versatile as the black one. On the black one, the only pop of color is on the red tipped seconds hand. That one (depending on the strap you put on it) would look equally at home for military use on a rubber or nato, a T-shirt and jeans with any strap or bracelet, and even with a suit when paired with a dressier strap. This one has that same red tip on the seconds hand, but with its white dial, bright blue bezel, along with the polished, bright blue indices and handset - it looks much less serious. I think it would look fine with a T-shirt and jeans and up to business casual, but not much otherwise.
Regarding the dial, it’s much more interesting in person than you can tell in the pics. Nicely polished/finished blue indices and handset that turn an almost electric blue when hit by the light, but it’s the texture of the dial that I really like. I have no idea what it’s made of. The texture doesn’t look like it’s just from some kind of paint, it has a very subtle metallic sheen, almost like a very faint glitter. Maybe the best way to describe it would be if you were to take a shiny white metal and then sand it down to give it a matte finish, but you could still see hints of a glittery shine - that’s what it looks like.
Visibility is great too. In particular, I find white dial watches that use dark outlines for the hands and indices are the most clearly visible at a glance. Also, dive watches (or any watch with an outer rotating bezel) need to be larger like this one because those bezels take up a lot of the diameter. The lume is much stronger and longer lasting than on previous iterations. This one uses blue lume instead of the green on the black version, and seems to be almost as strong and long lasting, although the green always looks brighter to me in the dark. This lume is still visible on camera even at the two hour mark (and the camera has a much harder time picking up dim light than our eyes can when adjusted to the dark), which means it’ll be easily visible in the dark all night.
The antireflective (AR) coating is improved from older models and helps reduce some glare, but there are some angles you’ll find it difficult to see the time. Out of those two, the lume is definitely more important in everyday life. A good AR coating is a bonus, but less of a priority, especially at this price tier.
The movement is also great, again especially at this tier. The Powermatic 80 movement is always reliable. 80 hr power reserve, laser regulated at the factory. I have 3 of them in various watches, all of them run easily within the COSC spec of -4 to +6 seconds per day. For this one in particular when fully wound, on the timegrapher it settled down at +2 seconds per day dial up, then +6 spd crown left (12 o’clock down). Its lifetime average has been +1.3 spd over 120 non consecutive days (a week or two at a time) that I actively tracked when on winder or on wrist around the house.
The bracelet is a weak point. No on the fly adjust capability and no quick release spring bars. I never even wore the watch on the factory bracelet because of all that, I swapped it out immediately. I can’t wear a watch bracelet that doesn’t have the on the fly adjust capability anymore. Once you’ve had it on other watches, you can’t go back.
The glossy ceramic bezel looks good and will be very durable and scratch resistant compared to aluminum. The gloss goes well with the polished bits on the dial, knurling, bezel, and crown. It has 60 minute clicks (which I prefer, makes it much easier to use the bezel even for simple things like counting instead of timing) with a solid feeling, notchy action. It was extremely difficult to move the bezel when I first got the watch because it was very stiff, but also because it has shallow knurling, and it’s smooth and polished, so it lacks grip. It’s extra hard to turn when hands are slippery from water, and almost impossible when from soap or oil. The bezel action did eventually loosen up over time (in the beginning I used to just sit there and constantly rotate the bezel to loosen it up while watching tv), and now it’s much easier to turn. But the bezel and crown knurling could definitely be improved for better grip.
But the worst part, and the reason why I’m so dissatisfied with this watch - the lume pip is a little unprotected bead that seems to be just glued into the bezel. On the black version, very early on, after only a few times of wearing the watch - that lume pip broke off, and I didn’t notice until later because I hadn’t banged the watch against anything that would’ve made me check to make sure it wasn’t damaged. I never even noticed before whether lume pips were protected until my experience with that watch. Now I always make sure they’re shielded before I buy. I hate having a watch knowing a piece is missing, even if I’m the only one who knows.
I bought this white version right after the black one, but before the lume pip on the black one broke off - so I’ve never worn the white version outside the house because I want to keep it intact. I should just get over it and enjoy the watch for what it is, and let the lume pip break off on this one too. It is such a waste not to wear such a good looking watch.
It’s something I’ve always noticed about Hamilton watches - there always seems to be at least one part that’s made cheaply and not as durable as the rest of the watch.
There’s a very simple way to fix that problem - either make it with a fully protected lume pip, or get rid of the lume pip altogether and make the bezel bidirectional, since without the lume pip it wouldn’t meet diver requirements anymore anyway. That would change the watch from a diver to more of a pilot watch, but let’s face it - 99.99% of people aren’t diving with these, we buy divers for their water resistance/durability but don’t need a unidirectional bezel for diving purposes. Bidirectional is much more functional for timing things in everyday life. And the best type of bezel would be a bidirectional, 60 click, 12 hour bezel with full minute markings. Then you could not only use it for timing, but also to track a second time zone. That would be a total homerun.
In addition to that, add better knurling on the bezel and crown for better grip, quick release spring bars for the bracelet along with an on the fly adjusting clasp, at least a date (or better yet a day/date), then it would be a 5/5. Those should not be expensive additions either, they’re all very simple and relatively cheap modifications. All of that would take this watch to its highest potential in its price tier.
Since product quality is always relative to its price, if the lume pip issue were fixed, without any other changes, it would be a 4 - good, not yet great. But because this has such a cheaply made piece that breaks off so easily, it gets dropped to a 1. That’s inexcusable on anything in the $1k+ tier. A lot of watches at even the sub $500 tier have shielded lume pips so that they won’t break off.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2025
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